Shards provoke imagination of what once was or more importantly what could be.

For the ceramic artist, the phrase “shard pile” conjures visions of excavation sites along the west bank of the Nile River, Jingdezhen roadside heaps, or perhaps strewn layers on Northern California’s TEPCO beach. In this Studio Session, we will expand the shard pile from ceramic to encompass a broad range of materials and conditions. In particular, we will consider the studio itself as a shard pile: a collection of unruly objects, thoughts, and interests, ensnared in ongoing creative (un)production.

Over four weeks the shard pile will become a foundation from which to consider how wayward bits and dislocated pieces inform creative intuition and challenge creative intent. Shards will become tools to disrupt the virtues of completeness, productivity, and permanence.

Burkheimer is an artist based in Portland, Oregon, whose practice is founded on labor, skill and the built environment, reflecting varied experiences as a carpenter, artist, and educator. His work has been exhibited nationally, including solo exhibitions in Seattle, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon. His critical writing has been published in Ceramic Monthly, and he has received several awards of recognition as well as institutional funding, including project grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, a 2012 individual Artist Fellowship from OAC, 2013 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards at the Portland Art Museum, a 2013 U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship, a Hallie Ford Fellowship in 2016, a MacDowell Fellowship in 2021, and a Ucross Fellowship in 2021.

As an educator Karl taught for 13 years at Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon as a Professor and Chair of the MFA in Craft and the Department Head for the Wood program. Prior to joining OCAC’s faculty he taught design at the Virginia Commonwealth University’s branch campus in Qatar.

This session took place April 2024.